The Art Gallery of Hamilton is very proud to present Last Folio, a multi-media exhibition of
photography and film that revisits the history of the Holocaust in Slovakia. The
exhibition opens October 22, 2016 and will remain on view until May 14, 2017.

Time had stood still since 1942 in Bardejov, Slovakia, until nearly 10
years ago when Canadian photographer Yuri Dojc returned to visit his family’s
former home. On the eve of World War II, many of the villagers had fled, and
those remaining were taken away to concentration camps.

Serendipity led Dojc, along with a documentary film team to the local
Jewish school, which had been locked since the day those attending were
deported to concentration camps. All the schoolbooks were still there;
including essay notebooks with corrections--even the sugar was still in the
cupboard. The decaying books, which were lying on dusty shelves, the last
witnesses of a once thriving culture, are treated by Dojc like the survivors
they are–each one captured as a portrait, preserved in their final beauty,
silent witnesses to the horrors of history.

Amongst the hundreds of books and fragments photographed one stands out
especially–one which miraculously found its way from a dusty pile to its
rightful heir–a book once owned by Dojc’s grandfather, Jakab Deutsch. This book
will be on display in the exhibition.

“Last Folio is a moving
photographic journey of memory and loss,” said Shelley Falconer, President and
CEO of the Art Gallery of Hamilton. “The AGH is deeply honoured to be the first
Canadian institution to exhibit together the complete series and film.”

The multi-media exhibition includes more than
30 photographs of objects and interiors, abandoned synagogues, portraits of
Holocaust survivors and a documentary film of Dojc’s artistic journey by
international film and television producer/director and writer, Katya Krausova,
who collaborated closely with Dojc throughout the project. A 20-minute edited
version of the film shot during his numerous trips to Slovakia is included in
the exhibition. Together with the survivor portraits they create a greater
context from which to view the photographs.

The documentary film, also entitled Last Folio, undertakes a personal journey into the past and
present of Slovakia’s Jewish community. Through interviews with Shoah survivors
who remained in Slovakia, as well as the story of Yuri’s parents who spent the
war in hiding, the film looks at both the help Slovakian Jews received and the
anti-Semitism they experienced. It is Dojc’s stunningly beautiful photographs
that let us experience the vibrant cultural history of Slovakian Jews through
the now abandoned schools, synagogues and mikvahs (ceremonial baths) he
lovingly captures with his camera.

“The images inLast Folioare a last memento of the culture and
people who used those books,” said Yuri Dojc. “Most of them are forgotten–they
don’t have relatives or graves. I tried to memorialize them. This is not a
documentary but my personal salute to a vanished culture and a vanished people.
These images absorb me totally. They represent more than what I saw that
first day.”

Throughout the run of the exhibition, the AGH
will be presenting a broad range of educational and related programming for
school children and adults, using Last
Folio as a means to deepen understanding of the Holocaust, genocide and the
memorializing power of art.

Last Folio Opening Programming

Thursday, October 20, 7:00 p.m.

Screening of Last Folio, the documentary film. AGH
BMO World Film Festival.

Founded
in 1914, the Art Gallery of Hamilton is the oldest and largest public art
gallery in southwestern Ontario. Its permanent collection, which is focused on
historical Canadian, 19th-century European and Contemporary art, now numbers
more than 10,000 works and is recognized as one of the finest in Canada. The
AGH is a vital creative hub and centre of lifelong learning that enables people
of all ages to enrich their lives by gaining a deeper understanding of art.
Visit www.artgalleryofhamilton.com for more information.

About Me

Like many other self-employed communicators in Toronto I have an exciting/active career. On one hand I am an active publicist working on many high profile projects including the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Toronto Caribbean Carnival and RBC Taylor Prize, Cundill Prize on the other, as a journalist I have one book published (The Sinking of the Mayflower) under my name and have ghost written two other books. I am the travel editor of Diver Magazine and I write travel stories, cultural stories and housing stories for a number of daily newspapers in Canada.I am a Huffington Post. For forty years I have been researching, watching and writing about the History of Diving in the Movies. In the pages of Diver Magazine and a variety of other publications, my articles have been titled Blood And Bubble movies. I have documented over 3,000 movies dating back to the 19th century that show actors/actresses diving or snorkeling on film. My website, with three Blogs and a photography section represent just four small aspects of my work. Always Busy. Never Bored. stephen@stephenweir.com.